Sunday, 03 January 2010

Iced in at Stone

It's the first Sunday of the new year, a quiet, cold, gloriously clear and sunlit day, and I'm back in my house in Willage after four days taking Granny Buttons up to Stone, including a fair bit of icebreaking.

There'll be little or no canal traffic across much of the Midlands this week, thanks to heavy overnight frosts binding the canals impassably with thick ice.

We were very grateful this morning that we'd taken the decision last night to get into the basin rather than stopping just short. The whole of Norbury Junction was frozen and it was snowing, with the snow settling on the ice.

The risk of frost and canal ice makes a gamble out of a canal holiday in winter. British Waterways tries to ensure there are no lock stoppages in the Christmas/NY fortnight, and generally does a very creditable job. Nevertheless, capricious Mother Nature will often fill the gaps in the stoppage schedule.

Poor old Mike on NB Zulu Warrior found this to his cost on the New Year's Eve, when (being single-handed) he asked for help doing the 21 locks up to Wolverhampton:

I was faced with a similar dilemma on Tuesday at Great Haywood - stay next to the Anglo-Welsh boatyard, with all its facilities, or try to reach Stone single-handed - and risk getting locked in ice in the middle of nowhere.

I don't want to gloat, it's a tough call to make. Luckily I called it right, but had a scare near Aston with a 'canal closed' towpath sign.

There was no explanation, and on a late Christmas-week afternoon there was no-one to consult, either on the ground or by phone.

It turns out to have been a false alarm, left by forgetful (or lazy) workmen who'd been repairing a bridge a couple of furlongs ahead and some days past.

For me, the upshot is that I've got an excuse to leave the boat for the duration on Stone's best 48hr visitor moorings. It's a lovely little town to be bound in by ice.

Here's another call for me to make: Should I tell you about my New Year in Stone, or clear the backlog of posts I want to say about other subjects?